Document #1243194
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
According to P.M. News, the
African Refugee Foundation (AREF) was founded by its president,
Ambassador Segun Olusola, and is a partner organization of the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) (15 Feb. 1999).
The "institutional mandate" of the AREF is reported to address the
root causes of conflict "with a view to designing appropriate early
warning mechanisms and proactive strategies." (ibid.).
P.M. News reports that in February
1999, the AREF was supported by the European Union to organize a
number of public activities under its Democracy-in-Peace
initiative, whose primary purpose was "to promote a culture of
peaceful politicking and orderly transition in Nigeria by
strengthening the peace building capabilities of civil society
towards sustaining the bases of democratic order in the fourth
republic.
In June 1999, AREF unveiled a plan to
organize a "a convocation" entitled "Refugees Do Not Drop from the
Sky" to mark the annual Africa Refugee Day which takes place every
20 June (Post Express Wired 18 June 1999). In 1998 AREF
initiated an income generating program called African Garments for
African Refugees and Displaced Persons (AGAR), with the object of
making "AGAR products and services available locally and
internationally to individuals and corporate bodies" (ibid. 30 Nov.
1998).
Additional or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research
Directorate.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see the list
of additional sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
References
Post Express Wired [Ikeja].
"AREF Unveils Plans for 1999 Africa Refugee Day." http://www.postexpresswired.com/po[Accessed:
6 Aug. 199]
_____. 30 November 1998. Joke Kujenya.
"African Refugees Foundation Embarks on Revenue Generation Drive."
http://www.postexpresswired.com/po>[Accessed: 6 Aug. 1999]
P.M. News [Lagos]. Igho
Akeregha. "AREF Organizes Democracy-in-Peace Initiative."
(NEXIS
Additional Sources Consulted
Africa Confidential [London].
June 1998-June 1999. Vols. 38-39.
Africa Research Bulletin: Political,
Social and Cultural Series [oxford]. June 1998-December 1998.
Vol. 35. Nos. 6-12.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices 1998. 1999. United States Department of State.
Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
Keesing's Record of World
Events [Cambridge]. June 1998-April 1999. Vols. 44-45.
West Africa [London]. June
1998-January 1999. Nos. 4192-4201.
One oral source consulted did not
provide information on the requested subject.